Napa Valley Marathon Training Week #8

The training week started off with a Power for Monday. I felt pretty good with no lingering soreness from Sunday’s long run. This was good news. It meant my body is adapting to the stress once again. This was only my third attempt at Power and my legs were getting stronger from the lunges and squats. It was hard to believe I used to do these twice a week with heavier weights and would go out for a mountain run and feel no soreness. It just goes to show how the body will adapt given the time and gradual process. I am remaining patient with lower weights. I know I can get there in due time.

Tuesday was my typical Baywood morning run at 9:21 pace. My legs were surprisingly not sore at all from last night’s strength workout. This was progress indeed.

Wednesday was supposed to be Tempo but I have decided that I would do Yassos instead. I thought the Yassos was the easier of the two. With my cough, I wanted to still do some kind of speed training but not push too hard and run it just under my threshold. I completed 5 sets of repeats which averaged to about 3:53 per 800. I was surprised that my results were 3:48/3:58/3:55/3:47/3:56 on top of my terrible dry-hacking cough. I can remember the all-out hard effort to produce the same kinds of numbers not too long ago--on a healthy day. The training is paying dividends.

On Thursday, I planned to run in the morning, but didn’t turn out that way. I could not bring myself rise out of the warm covers and somehow even half-asleep, I managed to negotiate with myself that I had a window at lunchtime to run anyway. Yes!
I ran from the office to Cal Poly and back for a quick 6 at 9:25 pace.

So glad for Fridays, my rest day. I’ve had been thinking about the Castle Run all week. Should I do it or should I not? I was on the fence. I was worried about my cough. Did I have enough lung power to do the race? The good news was the coughing only started as soon as I stop running. So as long as I was running the coughing was under control. That was the deal maker.

I woke up early to eat my breakfast, prepare my hydration and nutrients for the race. It was a cold morning, low 40’s but felt like upper 30’s in San Simeon. I got there in the nick of time. I didn’t even get a chance to warm up or do any stretching. I even forgot my Garmin charging at home! Rats! This was the first time that I have forgotten my watch for a race. It was unsettling. How was I going to keep pace? I didn’t fret too much about this race. I got over missing my watch quickly, and thought that I was just going to run it as relaxed as I could. No more stress about the pace. Since I had the cold and the missing watch, it’s just going to have to be a pace run at worst or a tempo run at best. Turned out better than both! The results showed that I was only 9 seconds shy off my final time from last year. What a difference a year made! Last year, I put out an all out effort to achieve that almost identical 1:10:28 course PR. My time this year of 1:10:37 was done at a relaxed pace on top of my minute walk breaks. I must say, without the Garmin I did better pacing myself.

With the 8.2 mile race the day before, Sunday’s long run was supposed to be an easy effort. I was glad for that. I picked Turri Road with the addition of my Baywood 5 miler route to make the 17 miles. The first 12 miles I ran without the Garmin. Not by choice, but because it drained the juice all night when I unplugged it, assuming that it was fully charged. Not two days in a row! But had go without it. By the time I was done with Turri Road, I swung back to the house to pick up the watch which was fully charged by then for my last assault on the 5 miler. Average pace was 10:04 for the 17 miles. Good enough for today. I am just glad that I was able to run today to finish the long run with the race behind me. Any other training day, I would have to cancel the next day’s run after a race. I am feeling stronger so I am thankful I can run.

About Me

Living the "SLO" (San Luis Obispo) life, I feel so lucky to live four miles away from Montana de Oro State Park. Abundant with trails, the Central Coast is heaven on earth. Running is my passion. I am a middle of the pack runner and proud to be so. I run as much as I can, when I can, while I still can. I love the cold air against my face and the steady sound of my beating heart. I never take each day for granted. Happy trails!